Fabricio de Melo toured the Carrier Dome, then Manley Field House and the in-progress Carmelo K. Anthony Basketball Center.

He saw the 2003 national championship trophy, the pictures of Syracuse’s NBA greats and the massive tribute to legendary head coach Jim Boeheim.

It was all impressive, of course, but he didn’t understand exactly what it all meant: he had just moved to the United States a year ago. Watching college basketball on TV was a new experience.

So, it was up to the player known as ‘Fab Melo’ to figure things out for himself. He made up his own campus tour that eventually secured his spot in Syracuse’s 2010 recruiting class.

‘It was probably 9:30 or 10 o’clock at night, and he just decided he wanted to go and walk around campus by himself, which was interesting by itself,’ said Adam Ross, de Melo’s high school coach. ‘And when he came back to the hotel he told me, ‘Coach, you wouldn’t believe what just happened to me, I’m walking around campus and like, everyone knows who I am!”

Melo connected with the city of Syracuse during his visit and officially committed Aug. 4 – a little more than a month after he toured campus. The Brazilian native and Florida prep-school superstar chose the Orange over Big East rivals Connecticut and Louisville, making him the fourth high-profile recruit to commit to SU for 2010-11.

‘People were stopping him and going, ‘Oh, you’re that kid from Brazil. You have to come to Syracuse!” Ross said. ‘And he was very impressed with that. Everyone he saw in Syracuse was incredibly warm, and that was a really cool part.’

It was just a portion of the attention the 7-foot, 267-pound center received arriving in the United States just two years ago. But before he was being shouted at on the SU campus, or even dominating practice at Sagemont (Fla.) School, Melo was far from a household name.

Entering ninth grade, he had yet to give basketball a serious thought. Although he was burning up the height chart, his primary sport was still soccer, like most of his countrymen. He had never seen a college basketball game on television and universities in Brazil didn’t offer scholarships to basketball players.

‘He started really late,’ Ross said. ‘I mean, he played soccer right up until ninth grade until he outgrew it – literally.’

But after picking up the game, Melo never looked back. He skyrocketed up the local hoops scene and began playing for the Brazilian national under-18 team. Mike Ramker, the general manager of Melo’s AAU team in Florida, compared his frame to Portland Trail Blazers center Greg Oden and his interior skill set to Los Angeles Lakers bigman Andrew Bynum.

‘His potential is limitless,’ Ramker said. ‘He comes with the right frame of mind, and if he works hard at college, he has the chance to be as good as any player in the country. He’s got great size and great ability, and he just needs to continue to work hard every day.’

His talent quickly became impossible to ignore. Melo and his mother would call family members in Florida and ask them about suitable high schools where he could play and learn at a higher level than he ever could back home. They eventually settled on Sagemont, a boarding school known for its relationship with Latin American students.

‘Obviously, I was excited,’ Ross said of meeting Melo for the first time. ‘When I first had a chance to meet him on the first day of school last year, and he came to introduce himself to me, and I looked up at this monster of a guy and I shook his hand. Now, I’m not small – I’m 6-foot-4 – but he dwarfs me. I looked up at him and he had this big smile on his face, and we hit it off right away.’

Although he had to sit out last year (international transfer rules), Melo continued to practice the skills that could make him a dominant collegiate center. And like he would at Syracuse a few months later, Melo began developing a relationship with the city around his school.

People began tracking him down outside of Sagemont, looking to get a piece of the newest golden boy in prep basketball.

‘He goes to the mall here and he goes to the park, and people ask him to take pictures and sign autographs,’ Ross said. ‘He does that so graciously.’

An instant talent, Melo has remained humble, Ross said. It’s why he enjoyed the interaction with the people in Syracuse. Throughout his trip, starting in the airport and ending with a shuttle drive home, people asked how he was doing, and if he liked Syracuse enough to give it a try.

It is a kindness Melo is sure to return to the city.

‘I’m very confident he’s going to be a fan favorite with the Syracuse student body,’ Ross said. ‘He’s just a warm person and a very sociable kid. He’s got that silly smile on his face all the time and he’s just great.’

ctorr@syr.edu

Published on September 1, 2009 at 12:00 pm